After serving eight years in the Legislature, new Lt. Gov. Yvonne Prettner Solon from Duluth is well suited to be a liaison between Gov. Mark Dayton and her former colleagues in the state House and Senate.
The Duluth News Tribune says Prettner Solon, 65, brings some legislative experience to a new administration that doesn’t have much.
Duluth DFL state Rep. Tom Huntley told the paper:
“If I had any criticism of the governor’s appointments, it’s that at the top level, the commissioners’ level, there’s not a lot that have any political experience. They’re all really good at their particular area, but not many of them understand what it takes to get stuff through the Legislature, and you can’t read a book about it. So I think [Prettner Solon] can play a very influential role there.”
Prettner Solon says she’s busy but can cope. A widow, she has a St. Paul apartment and gets back to Duluth when she can to see her parents and a grandchild.
After the election, she’d talked about trying to open a northern Minnesota governor’s office, but now says that’s not going to happen.
“I’m up in the Northland, and so I figure I’m that voice and I’m available and people have not failed to contact me,” Prettner Solon told the paper. “I’m a mobile office. We don’t have a lot of extra budget to be able to open another facility or to staff it at this point.”
